She obtained a BS in Zoology at North Carolina State University with a minor in Nonprofit Management. She worked for the marine conservation nonprofit Sanibel Sea School in Sanibel, Florida, and is now pursuing her MSc at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre under the supervision of Dr.Daniel Pauly, in collaboration with the Sea Around Us project. Her current research focuses on global shark catches as they relate to the shark fin trade, and she is contributing a variety of shark-related data to FishBase.